Air mattress



May 4, 1943. J. H JQHNsoN AIR MATTRESS Filed Jan. 16, i941 2Sheets-Sheet l AIR MATTRESS Filed Jan. 16, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 zJ'nVnor:

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Patented May 4, 1943 yUNITEDSTATES VPailazri'r OFFICE, n 2,318,492 1 ,v

.AIR MATTRESS" John H.- Johnson, Toronto, "OntarorCan'ada ApplicationJanuary 16, 1941,seria1i\fo. 374,679

v U01-aims. (CLS-343) This invention relates to air mattresses 'orcushions in which a pair of rubber sheets secured together around theedges are connected at intermediate points by an intervening elastic'member which forms tufts on either side to prevent undue expansion orbulging and the principal objects of the present invention are toobviate the rupturing of the outside rubber vsheets through unduestretching adjacent to the tuftedspots A further object is to devise astructurewhich .spots which form the tufts.

will be very flexible and therefore 'much softer under the appliedweight of persons lying lor sitting thereon. e

A still further object is to eie'cteconomy in the quantity of rubberused inthe' structure'.

The principal feature of the invention consists :ln securing the outersheets by means of a plurality of intermediate strips of materialconnected alternately to the top and bottom sheets, said strips being ofelastic material andthe spot c ontacts of the intermediate stripsadhere` in areas extending transversely thereof.

A further important feature consists in the novel construction andarrangement of a pocket at one end of the mattress enclsinga separateremovable cushion. K

In the accompanying drawings Figurevl is a perspective view of amattress constructed in accordance with this invention, a portionthereof being broken away to disclose, theflremovablepillow structure atone end. e

Figure 2 is an exaggerated longitudinal secf tional view of the mattressstructure beforebeing inflated illustrating the manner of assembly ofthe outer envelope and the -intermediate means connecting the outerrubber sheets.

Figure 3 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of a portionof themattress shown-inflated.

Figure 4 is a plan View ofa portion of the sheet of paper to permitvthe'adhesioln of .separated spots of the central sheet with the innersurface `of both the topan'd bottom sheets-:ofthe vstructure. o

Mattresses constructed in thefabove manner the outerenvelopev sheetaround the adhesion Further, the mat tres's is not as flexible as'maybedesired;l

The present invention overcomes these various objectionable features.'

' According to the presentV invention rubber sheets I and 2 -ofthemattress envelope are connected'by means of a' plurality of vnarrowrubber strips'which extend longitudinally from endltoendA ofthemattre'ss and are connected tothe inner sides of the sheets'l and2alternately'so 'that the jfull width of the-strips 3 is secured' byvulcanization to the inner side of the outer'sheets 'in lsubstantiallyrectangular areas which areindicated by the tuft areasl 4 and 5respectively'.

The longitudinal strips 3 are thus alternately connected to the topandbottom sheets of the mattressr envelope and form zig-zag connectingmembers which, whenl vthe mattress Vis vinf-lated, limitsthe thicknessor depth of the mattress *andr as theV connecting strips are( preferablyof rubber 'they are sufiiciently elastic toallow o'f'a desirable amountof expansion and as the strips are arf `ranged parallel to each otherand the tuft areas ofthe successive lstrips are staggered, inrelation toeach othera very stable and uniformy mattress is produced which isAhowever extremely flexible.

Y The outer sheets I and 2.are of course secured together around. theedges in the form of' the flange 6 andconsequently-the tendencyfor sidedisplacement of thetop and bottom ,sheets is obviated.

j In constructing a mattress such as describecithe bottom sheet 2 islaid upon aflat surface andA a e sheet of paper 'l is laid thereover.This sheet is of course of lesser width and length than the ber stripswill contact with the areas of the sheet 2 exposed by the perforatins inthe paper sheet.

A second paper sheet 9 is then laid over they' f lower rubber sheets.

rubber strips and this second sheet is formed with perforations similarto the perforations 8 in the sheet 1 but the perforations I0 are offsetand are placed midway between theperforations l in the lower sheet andthey are arranged in longitudinal alignment with thelower rows.

The top rubber sheet I is then laid over the second paper sheet and itsunder surface comes into contact with `the exposed narrow rectangularareas outlined by the perforations I0 in the upper papershet. The upperpaper sheet is of course smaller than the outer rubber sheets and theedge surfaces of the two sheets engage in adhesive contact. I

The sheets are thus placed together, and, illustrated in Figure 2, arethen placed under pressure and vulcanized so that the narrow rectangularareas exposed by the perforations in the two paper sheets permit theadhesion of the longitudinal strips alternately tothe upper and Theouter edges of the sheets yI and 2 are also vulcanized together to .formthe outer seam. v A'suitable valve II is vulcanized in position at oneofthe corners of the mattress so that it can be lreadily inflated. l

At one end of the mattress it is desirable to provide a pocket to form apillow structure not restricted by the tufting structure previouslydescribed. This is accomplished by laying an unperforated sheet of paperbetween the upper and lower rubber sheets I and 2 and it is preferred tohave this pocket structure open at the end so `that the paper sheet isextended out past the rubber sheets. 'Ihis pocket. may'v be closed by Imeans of one of the standard types of slide fasteners I2 or otherwise asmay be desired and when thusprovided with an opening and closing means'asuitable pillow or cushion I3 separate therefrom may be inserted intothe pocket I4. This pillow may be a pneumatic pillow if desired, or, itmay be desirable to simply seal this pillow area around the outer edgesand provide it with a valve so that it may be inflated separately from,the main body, there being a vulcanized strip I5 arranged at the end ofthe mattress 'between it and the pillow portion.

It will be understood that, with the longitudinal strips'of rubberattached alternately to the upper and lower `sheets of the mattressbytransverseA contact .areas thel full width of the strip, the stretchingeffect caused by the 'inflation of the mattress and later by theapplication of an external weight thereto, will apply the stretchingeffect across the full width of the longitudinal 'strips and therectangular areas will distribute the stress to the `outside sheetsuniformly for the full width of each strip.

It will :also be understood that there will `be a considerable saving`effected in the cost of the structure in that the total area of therubber strips will be much less than the total area of `.a

`fullinterrnediate sheet of rubber whichhas heretofore been used.

as isV Athe central supporting member and the outer sheets.

A structure such as described provides a very highly desirable articlewhich is extremely comfortable in use and will have an exceptionallylong life.

Mattresses such as herein described are preferably made with an outerfacing of textile fabric bearing a fancy pattern and in the manufactureit is desirable that the fabric of the underside be protected againstthe detrimental effects of steam in the vulcanizing process and it isalso desirable to seal the several layers of the structure against theingress of steam and moisture. To accomplish the above it is founddesirable to cut the upper a rubber sheet I larger than the bottom sheetso that a margin projects all round and `this overlying top sheet issealed down against the plateon which the mattress is fabricated. Theunder rubber surface of the top sheet maybe pressed in a secure sealagainst the plate on which it is vulcanized or it may, if founddesirable, be sealed down with a suitable cement.

The sealing of the top sheet down to the plate prevents steam andmoisture getting in between the several surfaces and a securevulcanization of the various members is effected. After vulcanizing, theextra width of the edge flange is trimmed off in a suitable manner.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. An inflatable air mattress of the type formed of a pair of rubbersheets sealed together at the edges having the top and bottom sheetsconnected on the inner side of the mattress by a plurality of parallelspaced flexible rubber strips, each of which is connected alternately tothe inner surface of the bottom sheet and the top sheet, characterizedin thatthe areas of connection of the said strips to the inner surfacesof the top and bottom sheets are alternately arranged in theadjacentstrips so that the sloping plane of the portion of the strip connectingthe bottom and top sheets in alternate strips are arranged to intersectthe plane of the sloping portion of the intermediate strip to effect abalancing of the endwise stress on each adjacent strip, the zones ofconnection between the said strips and the upper and lower sheets ineach alternate strip being disposed in staggered relation to the zonesof connection between the adjacent strip and the upper and lower sheets.

2. An air vmattress as claimed in claim 1 in which the vcontacting areasof the internally zigtend the full width of the strips.

JOHN H. JOHNSON.

